Wrong Betting

Wrong betting doesn’t mean that you’re betting incorrectly. It just means that you’re betting that the shooter will lose. There are two types of wrong bets—don’t pass and don’t come. Both of these bets actually offer slightly better odds than their pass line and come counterparts. Before you start wrong betting regularly, however, it’s important to know that many craps players dislike when other players wrong bet, considering it to be bad luck since you’re essentially betting against the other players.

As its name implies, the don’t pass line is almost the exact opposite of the pass line— you lose when the shooter wins, and you win when the shooter loses. However, there is one exception to this general rule—the Bar 6-6.

On nearly every modern craps table, the words “Bar 6-6”— or the word “Bar” followed by an image of two dice rolled to sixes—appear near the “Don’t Pass” and “Don’t Come” betting areas. Bar 6-6 means that if the shooter rolls a 6-6 on the come-out roll, thereby losing, those betting the don’t pass line do not win their bets as you might expect. Instead, the bet is a push—no money changes hands, and the bet remains on the table for the next roll.

The Bar 6-6 exception allows the house to retain its edge against wrong bettors. Also, note that some casinos bar 1-1 rather than 6-6.

To make a bet on the don’t pass line, place your chips in the area marked “Don’t Pass Line” before the shooter makes his come-out roll.

The house edge on the don’t pass line is 1.36%. The payout is even money, meaning that you’ll win the amount that you bet.

Like a come bet, a don’t come bet can be made only after the shooter establishes a point. The first roll that the shooter makes after you make a don’t come bet counts as the come-out roll for your bet. After that point, the don’t come bet is the opposite of a come bet—it wins when the come bet loses, and vice versa, with the exception of Bar 6-6.

To make a don’t come bet, place your chips in the area on the table marked “Don’t Come.”

The house edge on don’t come is 1.36%. Payout is even money.

Wrong bettors are permitted to make free odds bets, just like pass line or come bettors. When betting wrong, making an odds bet is called laying the odds. After the shooter establishes a point, you can lay the odds by placing an additional wager immediately behind your don’t pass or don’t come bet.

As with the payouts for taking odds, the payouts for laying odds depend on the value of the point established. In add­ition, since it’s more likely that the shooter will seven out than make a point, odds bets for wrong bettors are paid at less than even money. These are still excellent bets, however, since laying the odds has no house edge.

As when taking odds, make sure that your odds bets will result in whole-dollar payouts. Laying the odds in multiples of $6.00 is the easiest way to ensure this.

Depending on the casino, you may wager an odds bet worth anywhere from 1× to 100× the amount of your original don’t pass or don’t come bet. The larger the odds bet, the smaller the house edge. (Though the odds bet itself has no house edge, it must always be made with a bet on the don’t pass line or don’t come, so that the house will have an edge on the combination of the two bets.)